COLLEGE PARK, MD. – Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) are working to create first-of-a-kind microelectronic devices that can communicate with biological systems in ways that could have revolutionary impacts on the design of electronic devices and computing systems and on the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

“Devices that freely exchange information between the electronic and biological worlds would represent a completely new societal paradigm,” said William E. Bentley, UMD Fischell Department of Bioengineering professor, director of UMD’s Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices and the project’s principal investigator. “It has only been about 60 years since the implantable pacemaker and defibrillator proved what devices could achieve by electronically stimulating ion currents. Imagine what we could do by transferring all the knowledge contained in our molecular space, by tapping into and controlling molecules such as glucose, hormones, DNA, proteins, or polysaccharides in addition to ions.”

The past two decades have produced many advances in microelectronics and in synthetic biology, which can be defined as the use of electrical engineering principles to design and build into living cells the ability to perceive and process information as well as perform desired functions. But, despite these advances, there remains a basic technology gap between microelectronics and the biological world. As a result, today’s consumers cannot yet turn to their smartphones to uncover information about an infection or illness affecting their body, nor can they use them to signal a device to administer an antibiotic or drug.

Microelectronics are based on the generation and flow of free electrons through materials such as silicon, gold, or chemicals. However, because free electrons do not exist in biological systems, scientists face a major roadblock in bridging the gap between these different systems.

But, Bentley and his team have found a loophole.

In

In biological systems, there is a small class of molecules capable of shuttling electrons. These molecules, known as “redox” molecules, can transport electrons to any location. But, redox molecules must first undergo a series of chemical reactions – oxidation or reduction reactions – to transport electrons to the intended target.

By engineering cells with synthetic biology components, the research team has experimentally demonstrated a proof-of-concept device enabling robust and reliable information exchange between electrical and biological (molecular) domains.

Even more, the research group is now working to develop a novel biological memory device that can be written to and read from via either biological and/or electronic means. Such a device would function like a thumb drive or SD card, using molecular signals to store key information and requiring almost no energy. Inside the body, these devices would serve the same purpose – except, instead of merely storing data, they could be used to control certain biological functions.

“For years, microelectronic circuits have had limited capabilities in maximizing their computing and storage capacities, mainly due to the physical constraints that the building-block inorganic materials – such as silicon – imposed upon them,” said UMD team member Reza Ghodssi, the Herbert Rabin Distinguished Chair in Engineering, with affiliations in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research. “By exploring and utilizing the world of biology through an integrated and robust interface technology with the semiconductor processing, we expect to address those limitations by allowing our researchers and students to design and develop first-of-kind innovative and powerful bioelectronic devices and systems.”

In addition to Bentley and Ghodssi, other team members include UMD Professor Gregory Payne, Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research; Assistant Professor Massimiliano Pierobon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering; and Biotechnology Scientist Jessica Terrell, U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

The research team will work to integrate subsystems and create biohybrid circuits to develop an electronically controlled device for the body that interprets molecular information, computes desired outcomes, and electronically actuates cells, allowing external signaling and control of biological populations. The group’s hope is that such a system, for example, could seek out and destroy a bacterial pathogen by recognizing the pathogen’s secreted signaling molecules and synthesizing a toxin specific to that pathogen. Through this work, the group will, for the first time, explore electronic control of complex biological behaviors.

The SemiSynBio program, a partnership between the NSF and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), seeks to lay the groundwork for future information storage systems at the intersection of biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, materials science and engineering. The program builds on many years of NSF support for basic research in synthetic biology.

This year’s SemiSynBio awards address a range of potential applications, including storing data by using DNA, automating the design of genetic circuits, creating bioelectronics and exploring methods for molecular communication.Bentley’s group is one of eight new SemiSynBio projects to receive awards this year. Additional information is available online.

According to Bentley, the new NSF SemiSynBio grant will allow the UMD-led team to continue advancing work done with the support of a Defense Threat Reduction Agency grant, a NSF Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future grant, and a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) grant.

Saltwater intrusion reduces soil quality and crop productivity, and increases pollution of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus into local waterways around the Chesapeake Bay. Tully’s research combines crop research, wetland ecology, geological and chemical analyses, and economic modeling to determine what crop management strategies work in saltier environments and to identify practical applications that will be the most cost effective and profitable to farmers, while also protecting the environment.

“The first European colonies were established in the Chesapeake Bay region, making this home to some America’s first farmlands. Sadly, some of the farms losing land to sea level rise date back to the 1630s,” explains Tully, assistant professor in UMD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “In some places, tidal marshes are not just taking over fields, but creating ghost towns. It is another side effect of our changing climate and a threat to our agricultural industry and the viability of farming in this area.”

The research will be conducted through a variety of field trials and greenhouse experiments that will help determine what crops can survive and are productive in the new saltier environment. Trade-off analysis will be conducted to determine the best options for farmers economically, while also protecting the environment and the Bay from added nutrient runoff. Tully's multi-disciplinary team of collaborators includes Dr. Keryn Gedan (George Washington University), Dr. Jarrod Miller (University of Delaware), and Dr. Rebecca Epanchin-Niell (Resources for the Future).

“Our long-term goal is the development of agroecosystems that are resilient in the face of rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion,” says Tully. “But this project is unique in that it combines many different disciplines and takes research directly into practical application and education for the farming community. Once we determine what the most cost effective strategies are, we will be sharing our results with farmers and extension agents to directly improve environmental and economic outcomes.”

The project’s outreach initiatives will include webinars, the creation of educational materials, and train-the-trainer sessions to help ensure that the information is distributed as widely as possible.

“We are very excited about this project and the opportunity to expand it further,” says Tully. “It supports the College’s goals to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, advance agricultural production and farm viability, and promote environmental health and awareness in the face of a changing climate.”

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- An international team of scientists, with key contributions from researchers at the University of Maryland, for the first time have pinpointed a supermassive black hole as the source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos—ghostly subatomic particles that are among the most abundant known particles in the universe and among the hardest to detect.

For more than 100 years scientists have been searching for the source of cosmic rays, high energy charged particles (atoms) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. Within cosmic rays there also are neutrinos and other subatomic particles, thus the new finding points at supermassive black holes, called blazars, as generators of neutrinos and cosmic rays.

The finding began with the detection of a single neutrino flashing through the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a sophisticated array of sensors suspended in the ice thousands of feet deep at the South Pole. The observatory is equipped with a nearly real-time alert system—developed with leadership by UMD scientists—that on Sept. 22, 2017, notified ground- and space-based telescopes around the globe capable of detecting different “messenger” signals: electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays. The coordinated observation and interpretation of data from these different telescopes indicated the source of that neutrino was a blazar, designated TXS 0506+056 by astronomers.

“This result really highlights the importance of taking a multimessenger approach to these searches,” said Erik Blaufuss, a research scientist in the UMD Department of Physics who led the effort over the past several years to create and deploy IceCube’s high-energy event alert system. “Any one observation made alone would likely not have let us piece together what is actually going on inside this source.”

Work on the IceCube alert system by Blaufuss, astrophysicist Gregory Sullivan and other UMD researchers, is part of a long history of Maryland neutrino science that also includes the design of the IceCube data collection system and its software—called IceTray.

The findings that resulted from the coordinated observations of many different observatories were published in two papers in the July 13 issue of the journal Science.

“The era of multimessenger astrophysics is here,” said France Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation, which funds the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. “Each messenger—from electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves and now neutrinos—gives us a more complete understanding of the universe, and important new insights into the most powerful objects and events in the sky.”

Detecting the highest energy neutrinos requires a massive particle detector, and IceCube is the world’s largest by volume. Encompassing a cubic kilometer of deep, pristine ice a mile beneath the surface at the South Pole, the detector is composed of more than 5,000 light sensors arranged in a grid. When a neutrino interacts with the nucleus of an atom, it creates a secondary charged particle, which, in turn, produces a characteristic cone of blue light that is detected by IceCube and mapped through the detector’s grid of sensitive cameras. Because a charged particle and the light it creates stay essentially true to the neutrino’s direction, they give scientists a path to follow back to the source.

Following the Sept. 22 detection, the IceCube team quickly scoured the detector’s archival data and discovered a flare of more than a dozen astrophysical neutrinos detected in late 2014 and early 2015, coincident with the same blazar, TXS 0506+056. This independent observation greatly strengthens the initial detection of a single high-energy neutrino and adds to a growing body of data that indicates TXS 0506+056 is the first known accelerator of the highest energy neutrinos and cosmic rays.

The IceCube Collaboration, with more than 300 scientists from 49 institutions around the world, runs an extensive scientific program that has established the foundations of neutrino astronomy. Their research efforts, including critical contributions to the detector operation, are funded by agencies in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is funded primarily by the U.S. National Science Foundation and is operated by a team headquartered at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. IceCube construction was also funded with significant contributions from the National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS & FWO) in Belgium; the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Germany; the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, and the Swedish Research Council in Sweden; and the Department of Energy and the University of Wisconsin–Madison Research Fund in the U.S.

Photo: In this artistic rendering, based on a real image of the IceCube Lab at the South Pole, a distant source emits neutrinos that are detected below the ice by IceCube sensors. Photo credit: IceCube/NSF .

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The highly anticipated quantum science-based revolution in information technology requires the development of groundbreaking hardware comparable in function to the transistors used in today’s computers. Researchers at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have cleared a hurdle in the development of such quantum-compatible hardware with their demonstration of the first single-photon transistor using a semiconductor chip.

Transistors are tiny switches that are the foundation of modern computing. Billions of them route electrical signals around inside the computers that power our smartphones, tablets and other devices. Quantum computers will need analogous hardware to manipulate quantum information. But the design constraints for this new information technology are stringent, and today’s most advanced processors can’t be repurposed as quantum devices. That’s because quantum information carriers, dubbed qubits, have to follow the radically different rules laid out by quantum physics.

Scientists can use many kinds of quantum particles as qubits, even the photons that make up light. Photons have added appeal because they can swiftly shuttle information over long distances, and they are compatible with fabricated chips. However, making a quantum transistor triggered by light has been challenging because it requires that the photons interact with each other, something that doesn’t ordinarily happen.

The Maryland research team headed by Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, JQI Fellow, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics Affiliate Edo Waks—has used a quantum memory to make photons interact, creating the first single-photon transistor made from a semiconductor.

The device has numerous holes in it, making it appear much like a honeycomb. Light entering the chip bounces around and gets trapped by the hole pattern. A small crystal sits inside the area where the light intensity is strongest, and, analogous to conventional computer memory, this crystal stores information about photons as they enter the device. It can then effectively tap into that memory to mediate interactions with other photons that later arrive at the chip.

The team observed that a single photon could, by interacting with the crystal, control the transmission of a second light pulse through the device. The first light pulse acts like a key, opening the door for the second photon to enter the chip. If the first pulse didn’t contain any photons, the crystal blocked subsequent photons from getting through. This behavior is similar to a conventional transistor where a small voltage controls the passage of current through its terminals. Here, the researchers successfully replaced the voltage with a single photon and demonstrated that their quantum transistor could switch a light pulse containing around 30 photons before the device’s memory ran out.

“Using our transistor, we should be able to perform quantum gates between photons,” says Waks. “Software running on a quantum computer would use a series of such operations to attain exponential speedup for certain computational problems.

Their device, described in the July 6 issue of Science, is compact; roughly one million of these new transistors could fit inside a single grain of salt. It is also fast and able to process 10 billion photonic qubits every second.

With realistic engineering improvements their approach could allow many quantum light transistors to be linked together, according to lead author Shuo Sun, a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University who was a UMD grad student at the time of the research. The team hopes that such speedy, highly connected devices will eventually lead to compact quantum computers that process large numbers of photonic qubits, .

The University of Maryland (UMD) is home to one of the world’s top quantum science and technology communities, with over 200 quantum researchers on-site. UMD’s quantum science & tech partnerships and startups include:

the Joint Quantum Institute, (UMD the National Institute of Standards and Technology), is based on UMD’s campus and dedicated to the broad study of quantum science from theory to experiment;

IonQ, a quantum computing startup co-founded by UMD/JQI quantum scientist Christopher Monroe, UMD Bice Zorn Professor of Physics and Distinguished University Professor. Monroe also has played a leading role in creating the blueprint for a National Quantum Initiative.

This work was supported by the Physics Frontier Center at the Joint Quantum Institute, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory Center for Distributed Quantum Information.

Image: Researchers used a single photon, stored in a quantum memory, to toggle the state of other photons. (Image credit: E. Edwards/JQI)

On March 15, 2018 and June 29, 2018, the University received grand jury subpoenas for documents related to the ongoing federal investigation of college basketball. The University complied with the subpoenas by providing responsive records. None of the responsive records shows evidence of any violations of applicable laws or NCAA bylaws by University coaches, staff or players.

The University has cooperated and will continue to cooperate fully with the ongoing federal investigation.

COLLEGE PARK, Md.-- While many parents hope their children continue to take daily naps for as long as possible, new University of Maryland-led research aims to determine just how important napping is during the formative preschool years. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation awarded researchers more than $1 million to examine the role of sleep on brain development and memory in children ages 3 to 5, when they typically begin transitioning out of naps.

“Although research shows naps clearly benefit learning and memory in young children, it’s still unclear why naps are important and how they are related to development of memory-related brain structures,” explained Tracy Riggins, an Associate Professor of Psychology at UMD who is leading the study. “There is somewhat of a debate regarding whether naps should be encouraged in preschool or eliminated to provide more time for early learning. Currently, there are no formal recommendations from organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, but we hope our research will help provide the basis for more informed decisions regarding naps for parents, educators and doctors in the future.”

Riggins, in collaboration with Rebecca Spencer, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will study whether the hippocampus—a part of the brain critical for formation of new memories—can retain more information as a child matures, reducing the need for periods of memory consolidation during sleep.

For their study, researchers plan to recruit 100 4-year-olds, some of whom are non-nappers and some of whom are habitual nappers. They will observe the children napping or remaining awake during their normal naptimes in their homes. The research team will record brainwaves and muscle activity during naps to assess sleep quality and will ask the children to participate in memory games such as remembering pictures and stories. Children will also visit the University of Maryland for an MRI brain scan, which will allow researchers to examine memory-related brain structures, like the hippocampus, known to be critical for memory in adults.

“Our study will be the first to combine measures of memory ability, sleep physiology and brain development in preschool children,” Riggins said. “Ultimately, we hope to better understand how sleep—napping, specifically—may be related to improvements in memory and the maturation of memory-related brain circuitry during these important early childhood years, when a child is learning and growing at an astonishing pace.”

The researchers plan to follow the participants for one year in order to track changes in each child’s memory, nap status and brain development. Parents with preschoolers who may be interested in participating should contact Dr. Riggins’ lab at KidBrainStudy@umd.edu for more information.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- In a new listing out this year by U.S. News and World Report, the University of Maryland has been named one of the top schools in the country for international students.

Beginning with the national universities included in its Best Colleges ranking, where UMD is listed at No. 61 nationally, U.S. News reviewed 16 different criteria together for the first time to determine which schools have had proven success supporting the needs of international students through graduation. Criteria factors include a special international student orientation, international student organizations, need based and merit aid for international students and several others.

At the University of Maryland, International Student & Scholar Services exists to assist international students with transitioning to the U.S., advising on immigration requirements, and making the most of their academic experience at UMD. Designated advisors, an international spouses organization and international coffee hour gatherings also contribute to the university’s commitment to international students.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Maryland and the City of College Park will host its annual Independence Day celebration on Wednesday, July 4 from 5 to 10 p.m. at the University of Maryland, Lot 1 (adjacent to Campus Drive off Adelphi Road). The celebration will include a free concert by The Nightlife Band followed by a 30-40 minute fireworks show. Food will also be available for purchase.

Schedule of activities include:

Concessions open at 5 p.m.

Entertainment begins at 7 p.m.

Fireworks start at 9 p.m.

Grass seating is limited. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Personal coolers are also allowed.

In the event of inclement weather, the fireworks show will be held on Thursday, July 5 at 9 p.m. For more information, click here.

The University of Maryland will host a press conference Tuesday morning with University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh and its newly named Director of Athletics Damon Evans.

WHO:

University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh

University of Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans

University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering Dean Darryll Pines, Head of the Search Committee

University of Maryland Field Hockey Head Coach Missy Meharg, Search Committee Member

WHEN:

Tuesday, June 26 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE:

The Hotel at the University of MarylandTerrapin Ballroom, First Floor7777 Baltimore Ave, College Park, MD 20740

MEDIA RSVP AND LOGISTICS:

Media must RSVP to mediainfo@umd.edu and will be required to show credentials at check-in.

Media check-in will begin at 9:00 a.m.

A mult box audio feed will be available. There will be a soundcheck at 9:30 a.m.

Validated parking will be available in the garage at The Hotel at UMD.

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About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students, 10,000 faculty and staff, and 280 academic programs. As one of the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars, its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and 57 members of the national academies. The institution has a $1.9 billion operating budget and secures $514 million annually in external research funding. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu.

Evans has played a key role in operations, fundraising and Terrapin student-athlete success since 2014

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland has named Damon Evans as Athletic Director of the Maryland Terrapins. Evans, who joined the university in December 2014 and most recently served as Executive Athletic Director and Chief Financial Officer, has led the Terrapins to excel both on and off the field.

“Throughout his tenure here, Damon has demonstrated visionary, transparent, compassionate and ethical leadership,” said University of Maryland President Wallace D. Loh. “The candidates invited for interviews had impressive credentials and accomplishments. In the end, a senior leadership search is not only about capabilities. It is also about institutional fit and interpersonal trust and chemistry. In Damon, the University​ of Maryland​ has the right person at the right time.”

Evans, who has served as Executive Athletic Director since 2016 and Acting Athletic Director since April 2018, overseeing all day-to-day operations of the athletics department.

“It is a great honor to be chosen to lead at the University of Maryland,” said newly appointed Director of Athletics Damon Evans. “Since the day I arrived, I have been inspired by the student-athletes, coaches and support team that strive for success in Maryland Athletics, and I look forward to many successes ahead in our Big Ten era. I’m guided by the principle that we learn from our wins and losses, and I am eager to lead an athletics department that ultimately achieves greatness together.”

Over the past four years, Damon revamped the athletics budget and financial operations, resulting in an operating surplus. Evans was appointed as the liaison to lead the new Cole Field House project, a bold facility that will unite vital programs in sports medicine, public health, athletics training and academic innovation. Additionally, he was the driving force behind the department's new multimedia rights agreement with the Washington, DC and Baltimore media markets that increased the department’s revenue by more than $30 million.

During Evans’ tenure overseeing day-to-day operations of the athletics department, the Terrapins have had three teams advance to the Final Four and have secured three Big Ten Championships. In that time, the Terrapins have also boasted 26 All-American student-athletes, eight Big Ten Players of the Year, three Big Ten Coaches of the Year and 42 All-Big Ten Honorees.

Evans has shown his commitment to the academic success of Maryland student-athletes, strengthening the relationship between the athletics department and the academic units of the university. Evans notably oversaw a $21.25 million gift from Barry and Mary Gossett to establish an innovative, three-part support model for the academic success of student-athletes, the Barry and Mary Gossett Center for Academic and Personal Excellence. While Evans has led at Maryland, Terrapin student-athletes have had 151 All-Big Ten Academic Honorees, and nine programs earned perfect single-year Academic Progress Rates, while the football team turned in its best score (.981) since 2003.

Prior to Maryland, Evans served as the director of athletics at the University of Georgia from 2004-10, where he managed a program with 600 student-athletes, an $85 million budget and a staff of 250. The Bulldogs won 13 national championships and 19 SEC titles during Evans’ tenure. Under Evans’ guidance, Georgia annually finished in the top 10 in the Learfield Director’s Cup and also amassed $65 million for the athletic department’s reserve fund, an increase of over $56 million in just a six-year period. Student-athletes achieved the highest-ever graduation success rate at Georgia in his final year as director of athletics.

Prior to Maryland, Evans’ roles included managing partner at Evolution Sports Partners in New Jersey, vice president of fundraising at IMG College in Winston-Salem, N.C., and vice president of business development at the Markley Group in Boston.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance in 1992 and a master’s degree of education in sports management in 1994, both from the University of Georgia, where he was also a four-year starter on the football team.

Evans takes the helm as the Maryland Terrapins continue to mourn the recent loss of a student-athlete, which has prompted a university-issued external review. The review, which will look at all policies and protocols, could take up to 90 days.

He will assume the position of Athletic Director on July 2. A press conference will take place tomorrow, June 26. Additional details will follow.

Carla Williams, Director of Athletics at the University of Virginia:"I’m really excited for Damon, his wife Kerri, and their family to have this opportunity. Damon is a gifted administrator and I’m looking forward to seeing the progress at Maryland under his leadership."

About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students, 10,000 faculty and staff, and 280 academic programs. As one of the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars, its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and 57 members of the national academies. The institution has a $1.9 billion operating budget and secures $514 million annually in external research funding. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu.